THAT CHAMPIONSHIP FEELING: U.S. wears CONCACAF Women’s U-17 crown

BRADENTON, Fla. – The United States won the 2018 CONCACAF Women’s Under-17 Championship with a 3-2 comeback victory over Mexico Tuesday night.

Midfielder Hannah Bebar and forward Sunshine Fontes equalized for the U.S. before midfielder Maya Doms connected for the game-winner with a rising shot from the top of the penalty box midway through the second half.

Mexico led twice, first through a penalty-kick conversion in the 32nd minute and on the stroke of halftime when Nayeli Díaz capitalized on a misplayed back pass that was intended for goalkeeper Angelina Anderson.

Anderson, who earned two shutouts in the competition, made three saves and did well coming off her line to pluck crosses out of the air en route to being named the Golden Glove winner as the tournament’s best goalkeeper. The Americans also recognized with the tournament’s Fair Play award, while Fontes, with five goals, tied for the tournament’s top scorer with Golden Boot and Golden Ball winner Melchie Dumonay of Haiti.

The U.S. claimed its fourth regional title after winning in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
Canada claimed CONCACAF’s third and final World Cup berth with a 2-1 victory over Haiti in the third-place match earlier in the day.

That result solidified the CONCACAF seeding for the U-17 Women’s World Cup in Uruguay and the placement of the confederation teams in their World Cup groups.

When the final draw was held May 30, the CONCACAF qualifying tournament was not yet complete, so the three eventual qualifiers from this region were drawn as CONCACAF 1, CONCACAF 2 and CONCACAF 3.

The final seedings were determined by the number of points obtained by the three qualified teams over the past five FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cups, weighted by percentage with descending importance from most recent tournament back to the first U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2008, plus points earned for winning this current qualifying tournament.

Due to that formula, the USA was deemed CONCACAF 3 and will play in Group C along with Cameroon, Korea DPR and Germany.

The U.S. will begin its U-17 Women’s World Cup Nov. 14 against Cameroon and will face 2016 U-17 Women’s World Cup champion Korea DPR Nov. 17 before finishing group play against Germany Nov. 21.

The U.S’s first two games will be played at Estadio Alberto Suppici in Colonia del Sacramento and the Germany match will take place at Estadio Charrúa in the capital of Montevideo. All three tournament venues, which also include Estadio Domingo Burgueño Miguel in Maldonado, are on the southwest coast of Uruguay.

Mexico is CONCACAF 1 and will play in Group B with South Africa, Brazil and Japan. Canada is CONCACAF 2 and will play in Group D with Korea Republic, Spain and Colombia.

About The Author

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered eight World Cups, seven Olympics and all 21 MLS Cups. He writes about New York City FC, New York Cosmos and the U.S. national team for Newsday and pens a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has two more in the works, including one about the Rochester Lancers.